Can I officially claim this year “the year of the products I’ve never tried before”? Here is another prove of this fact: my traditional Saturday visit to the farm market in Zilinska street brought me a large bunch of colourful Swiss chard. The lady, who sells it names chard “Croatian spinach” and tells that it can be cooked like ordinary spinach. If you are from Bratislava and also visit the market in Zilinska, you know this seller for sure. It’s famous Cilka from Zohor, area to the North from Bratislava which is reach in culinary traditions. She names chard “Croatian spinach” and tells that it can be cooked like ordinary spinach. It makes a nice side dish together with potatoes. Of course I’ve made a short research of Swiss chard recipes and here is my own version of potatoes with chard.

Ingredients for 2 portions

6-7 middle sized potatoes (it really depends on a type of potatoes you are going to use in this dish, please be sure that you use potatoes that are suitable for boiling, not for frying)

1 bunch of Swiss chard (aprox. 250g)

2 gloves of garlic

2 tbs of minced pumpkin seeds (optional, but it makes this dish more “interesting”).

Olive oil, salt, black pepper, chilli pepper flakes

Directions

Peel potatoes, cut it into cubes and cook for 2 minutes in a big pot of salted water.

Remove the pot with potatoes and chard from the heat, drain it properly and add to the pan with garlic and seeds.

Mix properly and cook on medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Season with salt more if it is necessary. Serve warm.

I like combination of spinach and eggs, so I served it with sunny side up egg and it was great.

Oh, and more news from Zilinska market.

As you know, I am a huge lover of tomatoes. And I found stunning bull heart tomatoes for 3 eur per kilo. It’s not that cheap, but you can feel the difference between these tomatoes and tomatoes bought in a store. I dream to grow my own tomatoes so much.